Great Food Truck Race

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - The final four food trucks in Food Network’s Great Food Truck Race spent this last weekend in the Twin Cities.

This year’s show started in San Francisco, traveled to Portland, Pocatello and Rapid City before arriving in the Twin Cities.

Trucks had to find their own places to sell their food and they learned at the last moment what their challenges will be. So where ccould you find them?

The guys from Tikka Tikka Taco, an Indian-Pakistani fusion taco truck, was at the taproom at 612 Brew in Minneapolis from noon to 8 p.m. Saturday.

Samboni Boys, described as “Philly’s Finest,” was at Minneapolis’ Indeed Brewing company.

Hawaiian truck Aloha Plate Truck was at Psycho Suzies in Minneapolis on Saturday, from noon to 8 p.m., and at Grand Ole Creamery in St. Paul on Saturday afternoon from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, according to the team’s Facebook page.

SlideShow Truck was selling its sliders in front of the Lake Street Cheapo Records.

Local trucks joined in on the fun, showing up where the competitors were in what they call Nordeast Food Truck Ambush.

“The Great Food Truck Race” journey ends for the team that makes the least amount of money each week until there is one team left to claim the cash prize. The grand prize for the winner has varied between the seasons going from $50,000 to $100,000 and then to $50,000 along with their custom food truck. The show will air beginning in August on the Food Network.

Follow Mobile Cuisine to get the latest news on The Great Food Truck Race.

There is only a few days left (April 12th) that The folks from Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race will be accepting applications for contestants for their 3rd season. To change things up, they have chosen to select this season’s competition to come from the ranks of the food truck newbie.

Have you ever wanted to open your dream food truck? Here is your chance to get some professional guidance and be on television. They are looking for people from all walks of life – trained chefs, amateur chefs, line cooks, sous chefs, home cooks or even just foodies to compete for the chance to own and operate their first food truck. You and 2 teammates would make up the truck dream team and food network supplies the rest. Oh, and there will be multiple teams and it will be a race, so you should have the drive to do that also.

The Food Network is at it again. They have recently wrapped up shooting for season two of The Great Food Truck Race, but to help promote it’s August 14th premier, they have created a fantastic sweepstakes. If you are a truck owner, you have the chance to be part of season three of this program along with winning $10,000, or if you are just a fan you have the chance to win an exclusive trip to the New York City Wine & Food Festival.

How It Works:

Food Truck Owners:

EAT: Serve up tasty bites to your customers.NOMINATE: Make sure you’re nominated here. Nominations close August 5. Shortly after you’re nominated, you’ll receive next step details. Simply submit all required information by the dates provided to validate your nomination.VOTE: Starting August 14, come back daily and vote as your Food Truck joins the race to become America’s Favorite.WIN: The Food Truck receiving the most votes through September 12 will be named America’s Favorite and enjoy $10,000 along with the opportunity to appear on Season 3 of The Great Food Truck Race.

Food Truck Fans:

EAT: Enjoy tasty bites at your favorite Food Truck.NOMINATE: Make sure your fave is nominated here (only one nomination per Truck is necessary). Nominations close August 5.VOTE: Starting August 14, come back and vote as your favorite Food Truck joins the race to become America’s Favorite.WIN: Every time you vote you’ll receive an entry for a chance to win an exclusive trip to the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival.The $5,000 trip includes: –Air transportation –Hotel accommodations –Tickets to parties with Food Network

MIAMI, FL - Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race is filming a big finale this weekend all over the streets of Miami and we all get to participate!

Basically a giant scavenger hunt with food trucks, The Great Food Truck Race is down to two final trucks, which we learned, have been parked at The Fish Box’s garage while the owners have been partying down with Fish Box owner David Garcia while awaiting their instructions and filming schedules. The trucks in the finals are:

The Lime Truck rolls to Miami all the way from Irvine, California. Chef Jason Quinn cooks an eclectic mix of fare like Ahi Tuna Poke and Hanger Steak Tacos. (@thelimetruck)

The goal this weekend (with a few twists) is for each truck to serve as much food as they possibly can in a city where they don’t have followers.

In the past, the producers have changed their menus, given them roadblocks and probably tortured them to no end, but this is the last stop before one of these trucks are declared the winner and the proud owners get bragging rights (and $100,000).

Here’s where Miami food truck fans get to play the game. Starting today, both food trucks will be out and about on the streets of Miami. They can’t use their own social media (Twitter), but have to rely on others to tweet their whereabouts. They can call us. So…

It’s hard for any reality TV show to fly under the radar in the age of Twitter.

Consider the filming of Food Network’s Great Food Truck Race, which launched taping of its second season several weeks ago. I learned via Twitter that two Orange County food trucks (Seabirds and The Lime Truck) were competing in the reality show — where gourmet trucks try to outsell each other in coast-to-coast street battles.

At the time, Food Network reps — clearly underestimating the power of social media this year — repeatedly ignored the media’s attempt to confirm the lineup of trucks. Truck owners also kept quiet.

Understandably, the success of any reality show is sworn secrecy from contestants to prevent spoilers for TV audiences.

But when you’re hawking food to the masses in major cities like Salt Lake City, Denver and Memphis, it’s hard to keep details under wraps.

Twitter – the main communicating platform for food trucks — erupted. Loyal food truck fans like Michelle Reynoso of Anaheim began Tweeting details about their favorite trucks being on the show.

Sightings were impossible to ignore as fans shared photos of trucks selling food.

“The show is a competition, so of course we do everything we can to avoid spoiling the content of the show,” said Brian Lando, Food Network’s vice president of programming and special projects. “But, the fact is elements of the show are dependent on public events and social media chatter leads to speculation.”

The popular cable show eventually posted the eight-truck lineup not long after the viral Tweets spread to foodies in various cities. (List of 8 truck contestants). Show host, superstar chef Tyler Florence, regularly makes Twitter announcements about location shoots.

“The Great Food Truck people realized that Twitter is too powerful of a tool to ignore,” said Reynoso, 41. “I think they just tossed in the towel and made this year’s filming less of a secret since it was going to get leaked out anyway. Might as well get the buzz going right?”

And getting the buzz going on her beloved The Lime Truck is indeed what she’s been doing for weeks. Reynoso, who I consider the Queen of Food Truck Foodies in O.C., drove nearly 11 hours to Salt Lake City to support The Lime Truck during the Utah challenge.

***spoiler alert***

When she and her husband arrived in Salt Lake City, she found her fave truck parked in front of a Petsmart selling a meatless menu of mac ‘n cheese, honey BBQ lettuce wraps and a mushroom cheese steak taco. The Lime Truck crew took one look at her and laughed, she wrote on her blog. The hometown team told her contestants were given only $100 to spend for the challenge so they went with a veggie menu.

Filming for season two of The Great Food Truck Race with host Tyler Florence is underway, and eight food trucks are slowly making their way across the country. They were in Salt Lake City last weekend, and will be in Denver this weekend. That means the competitors have been spotted by crafty bloggers!

Although the Food Network declined to confirm the list, the fact that these trucks are out there slinging food on camera makes them likely bets. Fully half of the trucks are from California, including San Diego’s Devilicious, Irvine’s The Lime Truck, and Cafe con Leche from Van Nuys. Here’s the full list:

What no trucks from Austin or Portland, cities with the highest food truck to person ratio in the country?

Also, today came a press release announcing the premiere date: August 14th at 10pm ET/PT. Here it is:

‘THE GREAT FOOD TRUCK RACE’ HITS THE ROAD FOR SEASON TWOTyler Florence Returns as Host, Premiere Slated for August 14th at 10pm ET/PT Following ‘Food Network Star’ Finale

NEW YORK – May 4, 2011 – Food Network, the leader in food and lifestyle entertainment, announce the start of production for the second season of the hit primetime series, The Great Food Truck Race with Chef Tyler Florence returning as host. The show is set to premiere on Sunday, August 14th at 10pm ET/PT after the Food Network Star finale, with all subsequent episodes through September 25th airing Sundays at 9pm ET/PT.

In season two, eight celebrated and diverse food trucks from around the country embark on a coast-to-coast culinary road trip through cities including Santa Monica, Calif.; Las Vegas; Salt Lake City; Denver; Manhattan, Kan.; Memphis, Tenn., Atlanta, and Miami. Each week, the trucks roll into a new city and compete in dynamic challenges – often battling tough conditions including weather problems, location mishaps, food sourcing issues, and ever-changing customer taste buds. In the end, it’s all about which truck can sell the most food and race to the next episode while the losing team is sent home. Guest judges join host Tyler Florence in each episode and the last truck standing wins $100,000.

Pray to the weather gods that Denver is blessed with balmy breezes this weekend, because the food trucks competing in season two of The Great Food Truck Race, the primetime Food Network series hosted by star chef Tyler Florence, are motoring into town on Saturday and possibly Sunday (along with a flurry of camera crews) — and it’s going to be street-food nirvana.

The eight-truck, six-week, six-city, cross-country culinary jaunt is all about which food truck warriors sling — and sell — the most grub through whatever means possible, and it behooves them to sell a shitload, because the truck that’s still rolling at the end of it all pockets a cool $50,000, while the other trucks hit the road…home.

We don’t have confirmation on the exact whereabouts of the trucks pulling up curbside, but we can tell you, that come Saturday and Sunday, when they’re in town, they’ll be parked at various locations throughout the city — everywhere from markets to bars to pet adoption centers — often joined by our own local food trucks. And if the stops in other cities are any indication of what we can expect, then be prepared for everything from rallies to circus performers.

As the craze of the mobile food industry continues to grow nationally, food trucks are being spotlighted throughout the country in various ways. In 2010, the Food Network produced the first television series which highlighted various food trucks from around the country.

Host Tyler Florence led the teams on a cross country tour in which seven specialty food trucks competed against each other for the next six weeks in different cities. The competition started in Los Angeles and ended in New York City. The goal was to make the most money by selling food. The food truck that made the most money won the competition and advanced to the next city. The team with the most money also won a round trip to the city in which they won. Although runner-ups did not win anything, they still advanced to the next city. The team which made the least amount of money and did not hold immunity were eliminated from the competition. The overall winner of the final competition (Grill ‘em All) was awarded $50,000.

The nominees for Best New Series were:

MasterChef with Gordon Ramsay (FOX)

Top Chef: Just Desserts (Bravo)

FoodCrafters (Cooking Channel)

The Great Food Truck Race (Food Network)

Cupcake Wars (Food Network)

Private Chefs of Beverly Hills (Food Network)

2nd Annual TASTY Awards are presented in the following categories for programs, series or films on the Internet, on television, on mobile, and in theaters. Finalist Nominees were selected from programs submitted for consideration between July 19th and September 5th, 2010. Submissions were voted upon by an A-List Panel of over 200 industry experts, media outlets, etc.